Solidarity
by ghostermaster420bongs
Summary: 10 people come in, but 4 are left. In the Virtual World, all is turning dark, as we near the end. OxOC, YxU, JxA. Violence & Language.
1. Hello Kadic

The new boys stood among eachother, looking up at the massive campus. "Pffft," grumbled one boy in fluent english. "I can't even speak French." He wore an outlandish cap and jacket. The coattails were laced with tiny black ribbons, flowing in the autumn wind.

"Why are we even dressed up as Psychonauts characters, either?" Another boy, dressed in a green striped sweatshirt, a dark brown jacket and backpack, a flight helmet and goggles, and some gloves stared out into the campus.

"Elementary," smirked the last one, dressed in a normal outfit - a black T-Shirt with the Subsonics logo on it, blue jeans and a slicked back brown hair. "Somebody told me a long time ago they needed help with something called XANA. When I was like, five. Something about supercomputers. Now with that supercomputer, my technological genius, and some hard hours of manual labor, we can convert it to do anything we want."

"Like, make us a sandwich?"

"Think harder, man. Bigger! Imagine if we could be IN any game we wanted to play, And we could finish the whole game, and no time would have passed. The world would be ours!"

"So it could make a delicious bologna sandwich, and no time would pass while I was eating it?"

"...Fine, that works."

"So what's with the costumes?" The first boy felt very odd in his outlandish cap and jacket.

"Simple. If everyone thinks we're crazy," the normally dressed boy chirped, "if you dopes tell, people won't all gather around and freak out. They'll think you're all crazy. Me? I keep my mouth shut."

"Hey!" Odd ran up to them, quickly. "New guys! Aren't you going to the enrollment office or something? Everyone's been making a fuss."

"We're going into the sewers, to the factory, to the super computer, and we will play Psychonauts."

"...Eh?"

The average dressed boy laughed. Nonchalantly, he replied, "Meet D'Artagnan and Razputin. They're both crazy. My name is Robert. I'll go enroll as soon as I help these kids find this 'factory.' Crazies."

Odd walked away, weirded out, but a bit liking of the two "crazy people." 


	2. Solidarity First Coming

"Rise up to the fall - Hey! Solidarity!"

Robert stood upon a stage, singing, his friends Razputin and D'Artagnan, or so claimed, played drums and guitar, two volunteers playing bass and trumpet.

"Hey! Solidarity! Hey! Solidarity! Hey! Solidarity! Hey! Solidarity!"

The bass bumped on, as he sang his heart out. It'd been a week since they arrived at Kadic Academy, and he was invited to play with his band at a school talent show. Everyone around him was shocked.

"Unity the verb, solidarity! You the truth have heard, solidarity! Rise up to the call, solidarity!" He jumped up and down, back and forth, "HYEAAAAAAAAAH!" He screamed out into the crowd, grabbing the microphone off its stand, rolled forward, and began shouting, leaning down into the face of Sissi. "Hey! Solidarity! Hey! Solidarity! Hey! Solidarity!"

She was completely head over heels for him, amazed. She always did fall for the new kids. But this boy had stared her straight in the eyes, shouting words at her that she found irrelevant.

"Yeahhhh! Thank you! We are a Five Iron Frenzy tribute band! Don't forget don't drink from the water fountains - the water is full of lead!"

The principal, sitting next to Sissi, snarled with contempt. His daughter stood up and clapped, along with the rest of the room. Jeremie and Aelita cheered.

"These are the kids Odd were talking about? I don't think they can discover Lyoko with music," said Aelita.

"No," laughed Jeremie, "but they can get a standing ovation!"

Sissi chanted on. "Encore! Encore! Encore!"

The whole room filled up, the principal growing angrier.

The band rushed back out, with their instruments, cheering, "Encore! Encore!"

Everyone went silent.

"Hoho, sorry," said Robert. "Thought one of the good bands just played a song. Alright, we have another one. We call it...Giants."

The song opened, with Robert cracking up hysterically, and beginning to sing in a dark tone.

Sissi cheered, as Robert darkly claimed his words, the microphone screaming with filters, the drums, bass, and guitar yelling monorhythmical patterns.

"Who's behind the curtain anyway," he asked, pulling Sissi up on stage, "who pulls the levers and tells the lies?"

He signaled up Ulrich just as well, "Giants roam the land today, gaining dominance with every stride."

The guitars blankly went to an evil chord, the bass growling away, the recorded track of a little girl speaking insane words.

"Wait," he said, as the band stopped. "That's not on...That's just on the studio version. There's no-"

"Down with the giants!" A demonic voice belted.

"What?"

The ticker screen above him flashed the XANA signal, as the power went completely out, sans the factory.

"Now is the time," he said, dropping the microphone stand, running off the stage, dashing outside. Quick on his tail were Ulrich, Yumi, Aelita, Odd and Jeremie.

"That kid must be XANA!" Jeremie insisted, dashing on. 


	3. My Grandfather?

Well now that you guys are here, I figure it's our job to brief you. We're looking for information on materializing Aelita, for real. So we can shut down Lyoko and the world will never be in danger again."

"Are you kidding?" Robert elbowed Jeremie. "This computer could run F.E.A.R. on full, baby. I say just nix the XANA program and install some games."

"Robert, you don't get it. He dwells in Lyoko. We can't delete any part of that, But if we recover Franz Hopper's data-"

"Old man Hopper? You're talking about Franz Hopper?"

"Yes. The man who, in theory, could have designed all of this."

"No way! He's my grandfather!"

"Not possible. It's just illogical, in every way! All the data I've recovered from his journals says nothing about a family."

"That's because we barely knew him either. He left my family when I was 8, to go to France."

"Prove it," Jeremie retorted.

Robert produced from his pocket a wallet, with a picture of his grandpa, Franz Hopper, and ID, clearly reading "Robert Ian Hopper."

"I don't believe it," gasped Jeremie.

"Well then, let me see just what Grandpa's said about me."

Robert sat down at the computer. With fingers like lightning, he entered in codes and passwords. "I was watching my dad for a while. He kept a video journal then, too. He told me that one day I would need the password, and it would be Robert."

He typed the final six letters, hitting Return. "Latest entry," he said.

He gasped, covering his eyes, peeking through them. He saw the brutality of police, dragging him away from the console. "XANA!" He heard his grandfather shout. "Save me! Save me from the evil humans!"

"Evil... humans," a sad sounding voice repeated. "Evil humans." It laughed maniacally, possessing a piece of the ceiling, crushing the police, but suddenly, its icon flew out of the ceiling, staring at Franz Hopper. "All humans are evil. XANA's purpose is to exterminate humans. I am sorry."

The ceiling pieces began to fall, as Franz ran, turning back to look at the supercalculator console. "There's just one place to be safe from him..."

Franz hit the button in the elevator. "Systems! Initiate auto virtualize in 30 seconds!" The camera switched to a security camera automatically.

He dived into the scanner, his particles distorting, just as XANA pulled the plug - trapping Franz Hopper in the inbetween, the limbo.

"My god," gasped Jeremie.

"I... My grandpa is... dead?" Robert held his face down, crying.

"He's just stuck in the inbetween data. He's easily rescuable."

"Inbetween data," muttered Robert. "That's it! If we want to find him, we have to find a way into the inbetween data - like a barrier between Earth and Lyoko. He'll have to be there!"

He pulled a disc out of his jacket pocket.

"Jeremie, insert this. Mount it on the middle barrier. Partition F145. We're going in."

"What is it?

"A game my father programmed. It's supposed to take place in the future. That's all he told me."

Jeremie inserted the disc, and typed in the code. Robert headed for the scanners, with Razputin, D'Artagan, Yumi, Ulrich, Aelita, and Odd.

Multiple of them jammed into the scanners, all materializing normally, as they flung through the usual tunnel, however, at the end, there was nothing.

"Soldiers? Are you awake?" A gruff, cold voice questioned. 


	4. The Beginning of the End

Soldiers dashed everywhere, firing on the attacking organisms. They were packs of grey-colored scythe-armed soldiers, with tall black soldiers, standing tall and bulky behind them, carrying weapons.

"No time to brief you! Get to the armory, meet up with General H. He knows what to do."

"General H?" Jeremie questioned.

"Run! The armory's over-" As the soldier extended his arm, he felt a warm burst of energy in his back, His entire spine disintegrated, as the heavyset aliens opened fire on the squadron.

They rushed down corridor after corridor, of silence. Finally, they reached the armory.

"I've been waiting for you. My name is General Hans Elmin. As you know, the ship is going down - but not without a fight. I've already taken the liberty of splitting you into groups. Team Recon A: your leader is Robert. The members are Jeremie and Aelita. Team Recon B: your leader is Razputin. Your members are Yumi and Ulrich. Team Assault: your leader is D'Artagnan, and the most physically able of you, Odd, will be the secondary combatant." The man lead them to the weapons, which they graciously took.

"We'll be alone together?" Yumi asked Ulrich.

"Not quite," Razputin laughed.

Robert began muttering to himself, turning away from the group.

"What's the deal, don't you feel, caught up in the silence? Push it up, take it down, better wait for you to die-"

"What are you doing?"

"Got a story if you'll tell, so, you'd better listen well!"

"Robert!" Razputin yelled. "Snap out of it."

"Oh, sorry... was I singing?"

"Yes, you were."

"Alright, let's move."

The teams split up, sifting through the corridors. Team A headed down the darkest corridor, as the lights began to fail. Emergency lights clicked on, but shorted out. "It's completely black!" Aelita gasped.

"Relax," Robert said, clicking a button on his arm, activating the headlamp. "This has limited batteries - but you have some nightvision goggles."

"Don't fret precious I'm here," he began to whisper again, "step away from the window, and go...back to sleep."

"Why do you sing?" Aelita questioned.

"I sing because... where I came from it's an arcane practice. It's supposed to summon good luck and fortune. Everyday things to you are ritualistic to us,"

As they further creeped through the corridors, a whispering voice followed behind them, a dark and evil one. "Safe from pain," it growled, "and truth, and choice - and other poison devils!"

Robert whirled around, to see a pair of red eyes watching him from the shadows.

"See, they don't give a #$ about you...like I do..."

He fired off a warning shot from his pistol. Immediately, a hellish being: a flaming-eyed, child-sized red-skinned demon; was standing right before him.

"What are you? I don't remember you from the game at all!"

"I'm one of the millions of new codes spliced in by XANA. I'm a demonic entity. I live in Virtual Hell. Would you like to come see? It's a lovely place."

"No, no, stay back." Robert fired off several bullets, but it caught them all. "New toys!" The demon laughed. It whirled the bullets around in midair, orbiting them around himself.

"What do you want with us, monster?"

"I wanna play with you. This world is so much bigger than the pretty little one I live in. Will you let me follow you?"

So far, the demon had done nothing.

"Prove yourself."

"There's a locked door and two aliens just up ahead and around the corner, and I can break the lock's security if you clear out the aliens."

Jeremie gazed into the entity's flaming eyes.

"If you're one of XANA's creations, why are you helping us?"

"Yeah," Robert said, whirling around to look at the demon.

"Because XANA wants me to keep a close eye on the one that sings, and say; you look awfully familiar, too."

"Fine," Robert said, as he continued walking. As he rounded the bend, there were the two aliens; and the locked door.

Odd and D'Artagnan, loaded to the teeth with weapons, charged down a corridor. "I'm getting a transmission," D'Artagnan said. "There's a breach on Strut B."

"Why would we wanna go there?"

"We're the ASSAULT Squadron," D'Artagnan said, unholstering duel SMGs. "Let's rock."

Odd and Dart charged down the hall, reaching the door to Strut B.

"It's code-locked!" D'Artagnan yelled, frustrated, as he tried to open it.

"Nonsense," Odd said. "Every door can be opened some way or another." Odd brought his foot in a quick slicing kick to the door, and as the blow connected, the door flew off, allowing them to the midst of the battle.

In what looked like a restaurant's interior, a soldier jumped over a table, hiding behind a tree planted in artifical soil, blindfiring behind him and killing an alien quickly. He turned around to look at his prize, but not before being gutted by one of the small aliens. Quickly, a larger alien tore a neon-lit sign from the ceiling, dropping it to the ground, lighting a fire as it cracked open.

Odd jumped in, firing his M4 wildly. He dived behind another tree, killing the fire-starting alien, and two small ones, as he jumped for a hanging lamp, swinging across it to the ceiling rafters. He looked around, beginning to pick enemies off from above. He changed locations quickly along the rafters, so as not to be noticed. On the ground, Dart was handling things just fine - until she stopped to reload. A gigantic form of the small aliens readied its claws to decapitate her, as Odd rode down a lamp's rope, and using his kinetic force downward, broke it off, crushing the alien under it.

"Dart! Don't worry!"

"Oh, you saved me!" D'Artagnan said. He turned around, and kissed Odd on the cheek.

Odd coughed, sputtered, hacked, wheezed, and made barfing noises. "That's gross! Can you not tell I'm a guy?"

"Come on Odd." D'Artagnan laughed. "Can you not tell I'm a girl?"

She took off her stocking cap, revealing flowing pink hair, and previously hidden from the hat's scruff; deep green eyes.

"No, I couldn't," claimed Odd, turning red.

"Well, it was for the sake of the mission; but now that you know, I guess you should also I know I like you."

"Listen; we can't let this get in the way of the...the mission. I mean say we're fighting in a dark closet and you get carried away, again?"

"Come on, Odd. Have faith in me."

Just then, two mechanical monsters burst through the door, crushing the tile floor beneath them.

"Mechs!"

Odd and Dart dived behind seperate trees, loading their weapons.

Yumi, Ulrich, and Razputin walked towards the bridge slowly, with Raz in front and Yumi in back. "Our goal," Razputin said, "is to find and annihilate any possible threat within the bridge or control room."

"Yeah," Ulrich said. That was all he really said, he had to impress Yumi. As they headed down the corridor, a closet door seemed to sway open back and forth. Don't be scared, thought Ulrich. Don't be scared. Nothing can scare you. Even if you are scared, not in front of Yumi.

Ulrich held his breath crossing the border to the closet, as he heard a heavy breathing. He slowed down, activating his flashlight. He walked in, and looked around. Razputin stopped, and so did Yumi. Ulrich checked the supply closet thoroughly, for nothing, but still heard heavy breathing. Just then, from the other closet directly across from it, a demon dived out. Inside his mind, Ulrich had jumped to the ceiling and cried in terror. In reality, he simply shook.

He took the broom, as the demon took one for its own. Each move he made, it made. He swung, crashing the broom into the demon every time, but being hurt himself. Ulrich quickly formulated a plan. The demon was no taller than 3 feet high. Ulrich jumped into the air as high as he could; not even up to Ulrich's kneecaps as the demon, and brought down his broom. The demon was crushed, leaving in its death moments just an ache in Ulrich's shoe.

"Wow," Yumi said.

"Ehhh, yeah," he said, smiling.

"Don't try to impress her now. We're on a mission, and if we're gonna get scared, get down and dirty, and knock some heads, we don't need to do it with smile." Razputin said. His tone was serious, as he lowered his crimson red goggles over his eyes.

"Just keep moving." 


	5. The End of the Beginning

Odd and Dart dived into the middle again, running in helix formation, until they both struck forth for the robots, and Odd jumped virtually infinitely into the air, diving back down, with plenty of gunfire, crashing his foot into the mech, as its first shell of armor ruptured, revealing a jet black obsidian inner casing.

"Jeez louise," Odd said, firing off more shots. "These just won't do it!"

Quickly he thought; and dropped his M4, going hand to hand and mono y mono with the robotic being. He kicked it quickly, ripping off its outer shell of fist casing. Now he was ready to rock, as he connected each blow, cracking the obsidian armor, ripping out the motherboard from the robot and crushing it in his fingers, as the robot fell to the ground. Odd picked up his M4 again, holstering it, and went to kill D'Artagnan's robot. She was still firing, until Odd ripped its head off, pulling out circuits and wires galore.

"These things can only kill themselves." He laughed, heading down the hallway again.

Jeremie and Aelita watched as Robert took out the aliens, and the demon cracked the code quickly. A raiding party of alien soldiers rushed down the hall, as Robert and the demon ripped them apart, with their bare hands.

"He's so dreamy," Aelita said, smirking.

"Wh-Whaaat?" Jeremie growled. He ran up, into the battlezone, against all odds. He pushed Robert out of the way, into a wall. He prepared to attack an alien with his bare hands, until Robert yanked him back by his shirt.

"What do you think you're doing?" Robert snarled.

"You're such a charlatan, you know that?"

"What are you talking about?"

"First you steal the spotlight at school, and now you're stealing Aelita's heart even more, from me!"

"I'm trying to SURVIVE!" Robert yelled, shoving Jeremie over, and ripping the arm off the oncoming soldier.

Aelita walked towards Robert slowly, almost trancelike. "Oh, Robert. You fight so well;"

"Get away from me!" The angered boy yelled, sizzling with rage. You could see an aura of flame beginning to well up around him.

"Jeremie. I'm going to go up around the bend and scout. You and Aelita keep post. Demon? Keep me company." Ordered Robert.

The little devil hopped up onto his shoulder, as Robert wandered away, picking up an alien rifle.

"Aelita," Jeremie said, "I thought you and me..."

"He can play guitar and sing, he looks like such a sweet person, he's so strong - face it Jeremie, you can't do any of that!"

"I brought you to life, Aelita," Jeremie said, his glasses flaring in the light.

"But I'm in love with him now;"

"You can't be."

"Why not?"

Jeremie tried so hard to take her hand, but didn't.

"He doesn't even like you! Did you see how angry he got from you just going near?"

"He has a sense of duty! Not like you! You don't care about me, or anything, Jeremie."

Jeremie growled. He picked up an alien weapon from behind himself, and walked away.

"Robert said to stay here-"

"If Robert said to pick up that gun and shoot your own head off, would you?"

Jeremie marched off, steaming.

As Yumi, Raz, and Ulrich marched through the hallways still, steam pipes ruptured around them, erupting blazing vapor, They crept through the hall, to a dead end.

"This is it? This isn't the control room, bridge or... anything!"

Razputin looked up. "Wrong. If I'm right, it's right above here. And if I'm right..."

A soldier crashed through the floor behind them, opening a hole in the ceiling above Razputin, Yumi, and Ulrich. Razputin jumped up; taking advantage of space's low gravity. Yumi and Ulrich did the same, coming to the cozy, warm battlefield of the control room.

You could see the decay upon the consoles from hours of working. The soldiers fired shots, oblivious to the poor condition of the systems, the consequences of destroying a key engine or regulation component, or any other possible danger. Their only priority was to save themselves. Razputin quickly disposed of the soldiers, then aimed for the aliens with his weaponry.

"Wait!" Ulrich gasped. "Why did you kill the soldiers?"

"Simple," D'Artagnan growled. "If they made one miscalculated shot; it's over."

"Danger," a voice boomed over the speakers, "Cargo hold br-brea breach- Console disrupt-detpursid snoitcnuf elosnoc- All evac-cva- Evacuate."

"I guess they already made the miscalculated shot," Ulrich grumbled, as the computer's voice quivered nervously and began spitting garbage.

"Collision course to planet Earth."

"Hoo boy," Odd said, entering the control room from another entrance. "Oh hey Ulrich, hey Yumi. You hear we're all gonna die?" D'Artagnan signed, closing her eyes, standing behind Odd. She was gonna die in a computer game and she'd never even been kissed.

Robert dropped down from a hatch in the ceiling, followed by Jeremie and Aelita, both of the latter sulking in anger. The entire squad was reformed in the control room, for a few last brief moments, before quite possibly the premature end of their lives.

"Cheer up," Robert said. "There's a 78 chance we'll all survive on impact. Just look out the window. If we don't touch down in the water, it's all good."

"Why would it be bad to land in the water?" Aelita asked, still swooning.

"Because," he growled, "with all the extra weight," he said, pointing to her with contempt, "we'd all sink and drown."

"Robert, why do you hate me so much?"

Robert laughed at the virtual girl's remark. "You know why? Because that's not you that likes me. That's your hormones. I'll tell you now, you want the nerdy one. And if you leave him behind, he'll hate you. You'll never have anyone to love. It happened to me, Aelita."

He turned around, looking out the plexiglass windows to their impending fate.

"Odd," Dart said, crying into his chest, "why does it have to end like this?"

"It's not over," Odd said. "If I'm right, this is only the beginning. It's like Super Metroid, when the ship goes down – or like so in Metroid Prime. We've got a whole world ahead of us, a vast new world. This is a place where humanity on Earth has been extinct for thousands of years!"

"But in case it is over; do you want to..." D'Artagnan began, but Odd was way ahead of her. "Yumi, Ulrich, where's the closest supply closet?"

Ulrich pointed. As they left the room, he sighed. "I don't see how people can act like that. Being so romantic and yet... not. I'd never do that with a girl."

Yumi slapped him, and Ulrich didn't even ask what he did to deserve it.

"Our stop," Robert said, activating re-entry gear. He had no time to turn on the docking craft, or escape pods, being that the computers didn't have much more time before they fried.

"Ulrich," Yumi said, holding on to him for support, "I'm scared."

Razputin's teeth clattered, and Jeremie reached desperately for the helping hand of Aelita, finally receiving it.

"Brace yourselves!"

Everything went black.


	6. A Serene Moment

Thoughts and memories rushed back to his head as if a dam had broken inside his mind. Robert was awake once more, with Aelita standing over him. "Robert! I'm so glad you came to!"

"Aelita," Robert growled, "stay away from me. You're Hopper's child, am I correct?"

She nodded.

"My dad was his son. You never aged when you were put in Lyoko, but everyone around you did; and guess what?"

"What?"

"Not only are we related, you're my aunt. I don't think it's right for my aunt to be coming on to me. No. It's not right at all."

"B-"

"When I say get off me, get off me."

"You can't talk to your own aunt like that!"

"I can, and I just did." He shoved her off himself, grumbling. _Why?_ He wondered. _Why do I have to be the very victim of my aunt's affection?_

He walked across the wreckage, to the blown open supply closet. He looked, seeing Odd and D'Artagnan, passed out, with their tongues in eachothers' mouths.

"Isn't that just stupid," Robert said. He breathed in deep, and realized the beauty around him. The world was so clean – no more buildings, no more industrialization; tall grass had grown over the roads and water and erosion covered all that was left of human life forever. Fresh scents practically drowned him, as he smiled. He looked – to his left mountains, to his right lush fields of grass.

"It's so beautiful!" Robert exclaimed.

He climbed atop the highest point of the wreckage, taking the whole world in. The last sign of civilization he saw was a windmill, turning and turning. It stood atop a plateau, giving off its sweet breeze.

"Mmm mmf mmmgh mmmf," Odd muttered. What he meant to say was "Man, either the landing was that bad or that was the best time of my life!" Odd smirked, he didn't mind the fact he was trapped under the best girl he'd known. He proceeded to still move his tongue around in her mouth, until she came to.

"Oh, sorry," the girl said, climbing off of him. "So what made us faint, anyway? As far as I remember we were nowhere near the ground; and..."

"Science says it was the heat and pressure," Odd laughed with a smirk, "but I say it was the moment."

"It was definitely the moment in my book," D'Artagnan said, standing up, while Odd still lie dazed, looking up at the beautiful hues of the sky.

"Well," D'Artagnan said, smirking, "let's go."

_Jeez,_ said Oddin his mind. _Make a note that when we return to reality, to dump Emily._

"Hehehahaaa!" The demon crawled out of the bottom of the wreckage, pushing over piles of rubble and trash. "Master Robert! That was so fun!"

Robert smirked, looking into space, seeing the future ahead of him. With Jeremie around, he still had to look for Hopper.

"Aelita," Jeremie said, downtrodden, "do you still like Robert? Should I leave?"

Aelita smirked. "I do like him, but as a newphew."

"Huh?" Jeremie was puzzled. He took her hand briefly.

"Simple. In technical terms, I'm his aunt. I can boss him around all I want now, and all of that. No problems here!"

"So you mean, well, you're not..."

"No."

"Well I wanted to say that... eh..."

Aelita smirked. "Show not tell, Jeremie... Isn't that what Mrs. Illon always says?"

"You're right," Jeremie said, embracing her.

"Urk," Ulrich said, coming to. He mumbled to himself, climbing up, and shielding his eyes from the sun. He sat atop the wrecks of an old bunk, put his head to what was left of the mattress, and fell asleep.

"Relax," Robert said to everyone, "as far as we're concerned, we have all the time in the world."

As he sat down, he saw a figure over the hills in front of him; far, far away a gigantic being. It was a black shadow, shaped like a humanoid. It stomped, beginning to shake the land below them. It was, in fact, a giant. A monstrous, robotic giant. It lugged a gigantic broadsword behind it, carving patterns that swung and turned into the land.

"That's why you never say something like that, boss," the demon said laughing. The giant seemed to only look at them, before turning away; taking his place towards them were hundreds of soldiers. Robotic soldiers, lusting for the spill of human blood, and the death of their intruders.

"This is no good," Robert said, frowning. "Well team, get ready. Ulrich: wake up. Odd: try to focus on the mechs, not D'Artagnan. Dart? Same with you. Jeremie and Aelita: this isn't romance time, it's go time. And Demon? Go forth and tell me just what to expect.

In the midst of the oncoming battle, nobody questioned where Yumi was; for she had in fact, landed on the other side of the hills, amongst a civilized population of robotic beings. She had recquisitioned a scouting team, however, the robots had changed their mind. They made her the War Champion, and miscalculated her orders, deciding to strike their new opposition.

The demon crawled through the crowd, looking around. They were perfectly in formation, marching each step in line. The robots couldn't wait to bring the blood of their victims back, as it was their customary drink. Being that it was the only thing besides water they knew of, it was considered their delicious necessity.

"Boss?" The demon whispered, suddenly upon his shoulder again, "we definitely got a problem."


	7. Death in the Desert

Hundreds of robots marched, until they caught a visual of Odd, preparing for the coming onslaught.

"Uh oh," Odd said, watching a laser shot whiz over his head, "that's not good."

He dived out from the rubble, firing a missile into the field, watching physics work their magic. Robots scattered everywhere, corpses flung into living robots, heat sizzling off their mechanical skins.

_My god,_ Odd thought. _Even if they are robots, that's cold._ He loaded another missile, as D'Artagnan charged forth, two guns blazing.

"Wait!" Odd yelled, watching two robots surround her from the sides.

"Target eliminated," he heard a voice chirp, as the robots looked back up at Odd. He had missed the action through the robots, but he knew exactly what happened. He felt his hands – still covered by the robotic gloves. He ran down from the wreck, screaming with fury, deflected laser blasts with his gloves, as he ripped apart robots, put his hand through them, and tore them apart. He put two fingers around one's tubed neck, and tore it off, battering down other robots with the head.

"Dart!" Odd yelled, completely annihilating the army, as he reached the final robot. It was a general, marked by a gray giant metallic arm; which Odd proceeded to rip off and jam through its own stomach, rupturing its circuit board.

"You son of a bitch!" Odd yelled, tearing it apart. "You - you monster, you god forsaken monster."

Odd growled, as he slowly slid the gloves off his hand, standing up tall again, silhouetting against the setting red sun, realizing what he had done.

He had taken thousands of artificial lives – lives just as real as Aelita's, or D'Artagnan's. He walked slowly over to her corpse, barely alive. "I'm sorry," Odd whispered into her ear. "I'm sorry; I'm sorry."

"Odd," she mumbled with her dying breath, "you're a great warrior. I love you, Odd. Take them all out for me."

Odd put his lips to hers gently, and smiled a sad, dark smile.

"I will," he said, walking over towards his metal gloves, "I promise I will."

He picked up his gloves, and walked towards the hills. The rest of the gang climbed out from their hiding spots.

"It's so beautiful," D'Artagnan whispered up to the sky, crying. "If you don't make it out of here alive – then we'll all be trapped in here forever; so go. Go without me..."

"Dart," Odd said, through tears. "If we don't make it – I'll see you in heaven."

"You will make it," she said as the virtual particles slowly peeled off her wireframe form, which soon disintegrated. Odd looked up at the windmill, over the hills. "There has to be someone, or something alive in there. They can tell us where to go to end this all."

"We have to save Yumi," Ulrich growled.

Odd walked slowly up to Ulrich, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and holding him in midair. "We're going to the Windmill."

Ulrich struggled free, terror in his eyes. In Odd's eyes, he saw Hell ablaze. He saw years of anger and sorrow, years of loneliness and rage.

"Alright," Ulrich said, submissively.

The gang climbed the hills defiantly, up towards the windmill. As they reached the top, they looked down on the chaos Odd had caused – all the robots' oil and fuel was spilled across the land.

"I'm so sorry," Odd whispered.

"What's in the past is done," Robert said, marching towards the windmill. Odd picked himself up, dashing towards it. He opened the door, to see nothing. Just a tower. As everyone looked in, Odd ran up the stairs, dashing towards the top. "There has to be some hint of where we're supposed to go, some way of getting there."

He looked up at a map: it was clearly labeled, "OUTPOST II TAKEOVER PATH."

He noticed it was a path ending in a gigantic desert. He also saw a lever. "If it's a lever, pull it, dad always used to say," Odd remarked as he swung it back.

He looked around, as the ground began to rumble. "Whoa!" Odd yelled, losing his footing. "Did somebody give Kiwi baked beans again?"

"My god!" Jeremie said. With his low stamina, he had barely started climbing the stairs, and he was there to witness the revelation of a gigantic orange freighter ship.

"Sweet ride!" Odd yelled, jumping out of the opened window of the windmill, running to it, and hopping in.

The interior was luxurious, in the front: a lounge area, auto-piloting computers, any drink you wanted on tap, and hanging potted plants; even a restaurant-like fixation inside.

"Hmm," Odd said, settling into the cockpits. "Just one thing missing."

He put some fuzzy dice on the pole suspended over the dashboard.

"Oh, it's so tacky, it ruins the _whole_ atmosphere," Razputin remarked.

"Shotgun!" Robert yelled. He dived into the co-pilot seat.

"See what good comes out of pushing buttons?" Odd claimed.

"Light these engines up!" Robert yelled, excited. This was what he came here for – not to find his grandfather, not to save his friends, but for one hell of a thrill.

"Lighted!" Odd said, as he punched in the engine startup. "Set us on cruise mode! We're on a mission to the other side of the planet!"

"Acknowledged," the ship chirped, firing up the cruise engines.

"300 K to the desert," Odd said.

"Jeremie, I'm sorry I've been so weird, liking Robert."

"Don't worry, Aelita. It's something everybody goes through. It's called a crush."

"You're right... I wanted to make it up to you, though," Aelita said, leaning her face into his; just before Odd's raucous voice blurted, "Hey! Jeremie! Can you get me a shake?"

"Aaagh! Get it yourself, you lazy bum!"

"I can't! Somebody needs to watch the ship and Robert... has motion sickness! Also, get us a pizza."

"Odd, you jerk."

Jeremie got up, filling the cup with a sweet vanilla shake, and taking from the refridgerator a pizza, as another one materialized in its place. He heated it up in the microwave, and brought it to the two 'pilots.'

"What? What's this?" Odd knocked over the shake; as its dense form slowly spread across the floor. "A SMALL shake?"

"You didn't say how big it was."

"If you want something done right around here, you gotta get – Ulrich!"

"Huh?" A dazed voice responded, from a couch in the lounge.

"Get me a HUGE vanilla shake! The biggest one possible!"

"Lazy bum." Ulrich remarked.

"Grouch!" Odd yelled.

Ulrich brought him the biggest shake possible, which was one gallon.

"Holy jumping Kiwi! This shake is bigger than my head! Awesome! I knew I could count on-"

Just then, the ship came to a screeching halt over the desert, sending the contents of the shake all over Odd. "OH NO!" Odd cried.

"Destination reached," the ship boomed. "Docking."

It slowly hovered to the ground, as Robert pointed and laughed at the milkshake-covered Odd.

"Karma, my friend," Jeremie said, walking out of the conveyor belt that extended out to the sand.

Before them was a vast, shimmering desert, mirages everywhere, water seemed to surround them.

"Jeez," Ulrich mumbled. "This is hotter than that photo of Yumi Odd too - wait a minute."

Ulrich had just been brought back to a time when Odd had, in humor, given Ulrich a photo of Yumi half-naked on the phone with Ulrich; and had just dawned on him that obviously he had to have been in her house, watching her half-naked.

"Odd, you ass," Ulrich grumbled.

"And a lucky ass at that," Odd laughed. "Now, all signs say go west for the best!"

"There are no signs," Ulrich muttered.

"There are in my head, Ulrich buddy, and they all point to the funny farm."


	8. Sands of Sorrow

"I don't see anything," Odd claimed, looking out at the desert. "I mean, I see... Sand. That's it. Why did we go here anyway?"

Robert smacked himself on the forehead as he left. "Because there might be a clue about Franz Hopper here."

"What about Yumi?" Ulrich asked.

"Forget Yumi. She's gone, okay? We lost her in the crash," Razputin growled.

"But what if she's dead too? I never got the chance to tell her how I feel, to kiss her, to;"

Odd walked up to Ulrich, and slapped him in the face. "Listen; you have no right to bitch. I lost someone I finally fit with. And now you're crying about someone you've never even held hands with. So you shut your mouth." Odd growled.

Odd had grown a lot colder to Ulrich, and was slowly becoming a lot colder in general. As Ulrich's simple mention of death came to his nerves, he felt his spine chill and tears well up in his eyes. "We're going to cross the fields of sun and sorrow, and we're going to find Franz Hopper. And then we're going to find out how to beat this god-forsaken game. So help me God."

Meanwhile, on Earth, it had been 3 days. The entire city was under a XANA ambush from charging his power while Team LYOKO was unable to stop him, and launching out tanks, army vehicles, and more. They had just reached Kadic.

"Oh no!" Sissi yelled, dodging a drum-fed turret's fire. She hid behind a desk, before sneaking up behind it and ripping off the turret, and flattening a tire.

"Wow," Nicolas commented. "I guess Sissi can do something after all."

"Of course I could," Sissi said. "I just keep it locked up. I wouldn't want people to think of me as some creepy manly woman."

"Tanks!" William screamed, running.

"Uh oh," Jim said. "Everybody evacuate!"

"We can't," William muttered grimly. "They have us surrounded. I know one place we can go to be safe; the factory."

"Huh?"

William led them into the forest, kicking open the sewer grate. "Everybody in!" He yelled, going in last, just in time to evade being spotted by a reconnaisance jeep. He brought the grate over his head, sliding down the ladder. "Now! This way!" He shouted, running towards the factory.

As they arrived, he found it in perfect condition, as he entered. He slid down the rope quickly, followed by everyone else; Sissi first. They headed for the elevator.

"We don't need to go that far," Milly questioned, "do we?" Tamiya meanwhile scratched down the details of this tragedy on her notepad. _Sissi and William were especially brave, taking charge of the situation._

"We don't **have** to go that far just like we don't **have** to breathe." Sissi yelled up to them, as they all crammed into the elevator. William hit the button to the computer room.

"My god," the principal said. "This is amazing!" He marvelled at the world around him. As he walked forward, however, he saw rather than the usual globe of LYOKO, a projection showing the gang; sans Yumi and D'Artagnan, climbing through the desert dunes. Sissi looked at the controls with a sense of familiarity, and up at the screen, also projecting the image. "I know this... this computer. We can get them out, by going in. William and I will go in. For your own safety, everyone else stay out."

Everyone obeyed her; even her father nodded, as Sissi set the scanners to self-scan as she and William ran into them.

"Are you sure this is going to work, Sissi?" William asked.

Sissi nodded, as she felt her body turned to energy, and disappeared in a flash of white light.

Sissi and William appeared behind the gang, silently. "Hellooo!" Sissi yelled, wrecking any cover they previously had.

"Oh great, the peanut gallery," Ulrich growled. "How did you even get in here? We don't want you."

"Wrong," Odd said. "We want all the help we can get. I don't care how much you dislike them, they're coming with us."

The demon snickered, crawling out of Robert's pocket and onto his shoulder, as Robert felt him speaking directly into his mind.

"Go ahead and follow us, but watch your own backs because we won't watch 'em for you."

The sky looked dark above them. "Oh no," Razputin said grimly. "Everybody, start running for the ship, and don't stop until we're there."

"Why?" Robert questioned, still under the Demon's control.

"I can sense this sandstorm – it will be able to tear the bones off of us."

Everyone headed for the ship, seeing a whirlwind spawn from the ground behind them, catching up to them Ulrich stopped, looking behind himself. "Hurry up!" Razputin yelled, as Ulrich sprinted, unable to catch up. Everyone got into the ship, as the sand lifted from around Ulrich's feet. "Ulrich!" Odd screamed. "Nooooo!"

Razputin hit the door button. "Wait!" Odd yelled. "We have to save him!"

"We'll look for him after the storm."


	9. Twice Dead of Sand

Odd opened the door in mid-flight.

"Where are you going?" Razputin yelled over the screeching sands.

"I'm not leaving Ulrich behind!" Odd jumped out, feeling the sand pound him in the face. He shielded his eyes, and ran in the direction of the sand. "ULRIIIICH!" Odd yelled.

"Ulrich! Ulrich! Where are you!" Odd dashed back, into the heart of the storm, feeling the sand tear into his skin and bones like needles, as he trudged on ahead. He coughed, sensing a desert sickness gathering among himself. He coughed and coughed, heading into the heart of the storm, as it beat only harder upon him. He yelled in agony, as the blood red sun set over the desert. It would be far too hard to find Ulrich at night; but he had to find his best friend.

Feet lifted barely from sand, as he looked for Ulrich still.

"Will my Ulrich dear be alright?" Sissi asked Razputin.

"Doubtful."

Sissi gasped, yanking his arm. "How can you say that?"

"It's simple," Razputin said. "I've seen it all happen before; in a dream, a terrible, terrible dream. Someone went into the desert and we searched and searched for days. All we found was his jacket, covered in blood.

"It can be different this time!" Sissi gasped, scared.

"It could be," he muttered, lowering his head. He suddenly hit the door button, lowering his flight goggles over his eyes, and diving out into the burning hot sand. He ran after Odd's footsteps, which seemed to disappear behind him.

Odd cried, collapsed by a single branch growing out of a cliff. He screamed and yelled, crying like only a child again. Razputin looked up, finding only a bloody, tattered jacket. "Oh no," he whispered, his eyes welling up with tears.

"Odd," Razputin said, "take it, and come back to the ship."

Odd still lie upon the ground, facing away from the storm, crying. "God is a bastard," Odd said between sobs, "a dirty bastard."

"And payback's a bitch," Razputin said, also full of sorrow. "Let's go."

They headed back to the ship, from the storm. "Where's Ulrich dear?" Sissi asked.

"Sissi," Razputin said, bleakly, "he's dead as dead can be."

Odd held up the bloodied coat, dropping it to the ground, crying. He fell to the ground. Everyone around him was dropping like flies. He wanted it all to end.

"It's okay," Robert said, taking Sissi's hand. "I'm here."

What had started as simply a comforting moment became a beautiful moment, as Sissi looked up at his calm face through tears, seeing a hero. She clutched his hand. "Robert, don't let me go; don't let me die."

"I won't," Robert said, warmly.

Odd, meanwhile, was going insane. He was about to his the door button once more. "Ulrich **has** to be out there! You'll see! He's not dead! He can't be!"

Razputin held him by the scruff of the neck. "No," he said coldly. "Your best friend is dead."

Odd turned around, punching Razputin in the face. He kicked him in the stomach, and grappled him to the ground, placing his foot upon his chest; all happening within a few seconds.

"You had to close the god-damn door! We could've saved Ulrich and brought him aboard, but you closed the door! You bastard! Payback **is** a bitch, and it's your fault! I'm gonna do what you did to Ulrich!"

Odd found himself berserk with rage, pushing Razputin up against the door, beating him senseless, throwing him against the window, and finally opening the door and throwing him to the sandstorm which raged ever harder.

"Odd, you idiot!" Robert yelled, knocking him to the ground. "Two wrongs don't make a right! You god-damn idiot! How could you do this to him? He has a life just like you! His heart beats just like yours!"

Odd sobbed. He could feel the blood in his veins cool, and could feel something move around in his overshirt pocket – the little demon, crawling around and laughing a sinister laugh, before jumping out unseen to Robert's shoulder.

Odd silently walked to the cockpit, sitting down at the pilot's seat. "Six alive, with ten coming in. Welcome to hell," Odd whispered silently. "There's nothing in the desert but a friend and a comrade." Odd whispered. "There's nothing in the hills but a windmill and an army."

Odd lifted the ship suddenly, departing for the jungle.

Jeremie sat next to Aelita, drying his crying eyes. "Ulrich is dead and Odd just killed someone... I can't believe it! Is this a game? Or is this a monster?"

"Don't worry, Jeremie," Aelita said, sorrowfully."We'll be out of here soon enough," she wept.

"I hope to god so," muttered Jeremie, beginning to tremble.

The ship was crossing a deep ocean of blue, as Odd was slumped over the controls. All this death, he wished he could just die and visit them. He hung his head low, but looked up. He began slowing the ship, as they arrived at the jungle. Odd docked the ship, and landed.

"Greetings," a humanoid voice sounded to them.


	10. Enter the Demon's Lair

"Tell us where XANA is!" Odd yelled quickly at the native, who was dressed, strangely, in all bright red. He smirked a dark grin, his eyes setting ablaze with red light, as he gripped Odd by the shirt, throwing him to the ground.

"Oh shit!" Robert yelled, drawing a pistol quickly. He opened fire on the approaching figure, as everyone stood back and shuddered. "What the heck is that?" William asked. Robert ducked behind a table, reloading. He blindfired over, seeming to have no effect.

Odd got up, tearing into XANA with his metal gloves fiercely. "You! YOU!" Odd screamed, finally effecting him. The raw hatred began to burrow into XANA, created out of it himself. "I'll kill you past dead! You'll wish you were never programmed! I'll rip your virtual heart out and crush your artificial bones!"

Odd threw it to the ground, drawing a rifle and pointing him straight in the face. "Talk, XANA." Odd growled quickly. "How do we get out of here and save the others?"

Just then Odd saw the fear in its eyes, as he edged the gun closer. "Can't speak? Take a deep breath," Odd muttered, drawing his gun back, still keeping XANA held down in a death grip from his glare. XANA shook his head, and opened his mouth for the first time. "There is a network of tunnels, deep under the city here. It's dangerous, even for me. It's Demon territory down there."

"Demon?" Odd asked. "Talk."

"They're the result of an experiment gone horribly wrong by Franz Hopper, not like my demons – they're terrible, mutated, freakish beasts. Never get caught by a Demon in it's own home. It can rip you apart with thoughts."

"Great," Odd whispered, slowly taking his foot off XANA, who quickly dived up from the ground, knocking Odd to the ground, and quickly drawing a combat knife, murdering both Sissi and William. "That's my fare for information."

Robert gasped, looking at the beauty that was Sissi, falling to the ground. He rushed to catch her before she fell. "No... it's not possible..."

"Robert? I may well pass out, hooo..."

"Don't! No!" Robert yelled, drawing her near-lifeless corpse close. "Please! PLEASE!"

He felt her wrist, as her pulse weakened and died. He let her down onto the ground, looking up at the trail XANA left.

"We're leaving. Leaving to meet the demons."

Robert headed into the city, noticing a sewer grate.

"Well," Odd gulped. "As much as I love the dark, demons, evil, and other such great things, I really don't think-"

"Shut up," Robert hissed, throwing the grate away, and descending down.

Something stunk in the air – decay and lingering disease. He looked around. "Okay," he whispered, "I'm getting scared now."

He pulled a lighter from his pocket, lighting it up to see a yellow-eyed, pale-skinned vampiric demon staring into his eyes. "EYAAAAAH!" Robert screamed, dropping the lighter.

"Relax," the demon uttered in a Romanian accent, "I am only the welcomer. We were especially instructed not to hurt you, Robert. Boss says not to hurt... well, I'm not at liberty to say."

"G-You're..."

"You don't know me. Or else everything isn't going as planned, and we will have to kill you. We'll take you on ahead. The others? I hope they see well in the dark."

Robert growled, trying to resist the demon's grip as it disappeared into the darkness.

Odd looked into the darkness now, trembling, heading the group of Jeremie and Aelita and beginning to move forward slowly and tactically.

"I think you should start saying what you've _always wanted to say,_ Jeremie, because we might not make it out alive."

Jeremie gulped, taking Aelita's hand for comfort. "Don't worry," Jeremie muttered, "we'll... find Robert..."

"I don't care about Robert," Aelita whispered. "I can't go without you."

Odd raised his gloves, looking around. He began to see faint specks of light, as well as a strange silhouette.

"Who are you?" Odd shouted, as lights began to glow bright red around him. It charged at him, very clearly being an oversized, hairy, poisonous spider.

"Uh oh," Odd said.

"Ewww! That's disgusting!" Aelita yelled, diving behind Jeremie. "Kill it, kill it!"

Odd jumped towards it, enraged, as it swung up two arms to block him, and quickly used two free arms to pin him down, using his raised arms now to try and tear into him. Odd growled, ripping the arms out of his clothes with his gloves, and cracking them apart. He pulled off the very attacking arms, leaving a horrible bloody mess as it spewed purple blood across the floor.

"Disgusting," Odd muttered, as it fell to its weak body, "completely disgusting."

"We don't have to walk a-around that, do we?" Aelita asked.

"Close your eyes," Jeremie replied, leading her around it.

"I thought squishing a rat was nasty, but this takes the cake," Odd grumbled.

"Look out!" Jeremie yelled, as something ran at them fast: what looked to be a Wendigo.

Odd raised his gloves, shielding the attacks, as it battered into them, as he felt pushed back. "Aw jeez!" Odd yelled, tired of the constant attacks.

"Odd, just run!" Aelita yelled. Odd jabbed into it, raising up his foot for a kick, but then psyching it out, breaking its guard and crushing its chin with a mighty blow. He swung forth some more, until it fell. "Good idea," Odd yelled, breaking into a sprint.

The further they went, the more abominations they saw on the sides of the walls, the more mechanical and red it seemed to grow,.the more light that shone.

They reached the end, a gigantic portal. Odd looked at it. "If Robert made it through, we can!" He yelled, diving in.


End file.
